Since the announcement of the 2016 Oscar nominations, a lot of criticism has fallen onto The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the body behind for the Oscars awards). Some have suggested boycotting the awards show and the hashtag “#OscarsSoWhite” has become popular on Twitter. Even the president of the Academy admitted being deeply disappointed by the nominations. The criticism is the result of the perceived bias of the Academy against racial – and other – minorities. Whether you think that the accusations of racism are warranted or not, it is difficult to argue that the award nominations do not lack racial diversity (they really are “lily white”, as Spike Lee has put it). Continue reading Should We Be Upset With The Oscars?→

Due to the exceptional circumstances of the film “The Interview”, this conventional Hollywood production is being distributed in an unconventional way. As those of you in the U.S. have probably heard, the film became available simultaneously online and in movie theatres.

This distribution strategy – called a day-and-date release in industry jargon – has been often discussed, but never attempted on a big Hollywood title. And so “The Interview” has become a great test case for such a strategy. So far, though, the test results point to a failure. Continue reading “The Interview” and the Future of Film Distribution→